The guards who rushed to the scene stood there motionless, with blank looks on their faces.
Where were they now?
The place where they rushed to after receiving the call was in front of one of the largest stores in town.
...Yes, it was supposed to be in front of a big store.
And the reality was...
The guards stood still in front of what was once a large store, now nothing but a pile of rubble.
It's not just half-destroyed. It's about 6/7 destroyed.
And although it was a mountain of rubble, for some reason there was a straight line stretching out through it, about two meters wide and "Unnaturally devoid of rubble, as if the rubble had been removed from that area alone."
Then, the commander of the guards, who seemed to have finally regained his senses, shouted loudly.
"What on earth is going on? Someone, please explain!!" (Commander)
But there was no response from the crowd, as no one seemed to want to get involved.
The people working at the store were stunned, some didn't react, others just kept their heads down in silence, as if they wanted to avoid giving evidence to the guards themselves, and no one made any proactive attempts to interact with the guards.
The man who went to call for the guards had no explanation for what was happening, as the situation had not been like this when he had left.
No one responded, so the commander was perplexed and looked around...
"Hey, you're a Hunter Guild employee! Explain yourself!" (Commander)
Unfortunately, a guild employee who seemed to remember his face was called upon, and he held his head in disappointment.
This place was close to the center of town, so the guard post was close by, but the Hunter Guild branch was even closer.
So when Mile and her party first yelled out, the staff and hunters came rushing out to see what was going on. The hunters were just watching to kill time, and the staff were worried that the quarrel was something related to the guild.
And what was clear to him now was that he should never have been involved in this case.
If you get involved in something stupid, you could be expelled from the guild at best, or even hanged at worst; it's the worst kind of situation.
So, he just watched over them, understood the situation, and gathered information. Just as he was watching over them with that thought in mind, he was unexpectedly nominated. It was a head-scratcher.
He looked left and right, then turned to his colleagues for help, but they all quietly looked away. Similarly with the hunters who always followed him.
Despite the public's heartless gaze like a dead fish, the staff member had no choice but to gently point.
"Mmhmm," he said, looking at the four girls who were breathing heavily and had an accomplished look on their faces...
Yes, it was a desperate attempt by the staff member who had no intention of getting involved in this matter by replying honestly, to appeal, "I don't know, ask them!"
The commander obediently followed the request and turned to Mile and her party, as it was clear that the employee had no intention of speaking at all.
The staff member, realizing that his silent appeal had been understood, let out a deep sigh of relief.
"…Can you guys explain the situation?"
The commander would naturally have noticed the animal ears on the four of them, but perhaps because, as a public servant, he was trying to maintain the pretense that "demi-humans and humans have equal rights," or perhaps because he realized that this was an extremely delicate issue and was being cautious. Or perhaps because, even though they were beastfolks, they were young people including minors, and the commander asked Mile and her party in a polite manner... as a guard would...
Perhaps they thought that Mile and her party knew about the situation, or were witnesses who had seen the scene from the beginning. The state of the store was far too terrible to be believed as the root cause of all this.
"That's... ah, before that..." (Mile)
And with that said, Mile removed her cat ear headband.
Following that, Reina and the other two also removed their animal ear headbands.
"Eh?" (Commander)
"Eeeh?" (Guards x3)
"Whaaaaaaat?!" (Everyone)
The guards and spectators were shocked.
Yes, Mile and the others had put on the animal ears so that it would be difficult for third parties to interrupt or speak up, but they had no intention of keeping them on until the end. Otherwise, this whole incident would have ended up being the fault of the beastfolks.
At this stage, preventing third party intervention was no longer an issue, and they had clearly demonstrated that they are human beings.
"What on earth is that!!!" (Everyone)
However, the initiative on the scene now lied with the guards and their commander.
So, when they realized that the four of them were not beastfolk but just normal human girls, the commander, although not understanding what was going on, questioned her in a more polite manner than before.
"So, ladies, can you tell me what you saw?" (Commander)
Although Reina was a little annoyed at being so obviously treated like a child, she controlled herself and explained.
"All we saw was a group of lowlifes kidnapping a beast child and imprisoning him in a dungeon, treating him like a slave, and then the disgrace of the men lying there who tried to attack us when we questioned them about it... and that hidden door to the dungeon you can see over there, I think that's all." (Mile)
"Huh..." (Commander)
The commander was speechless.
In Reina's explanation, "They kidnapped beast children and imprisoned them in dungeons, treating them like slaves," this was a modifier for "despicable people," and what she saw was "the appearance of despicable people," but because Reina spoke quickly, her words were taken as if she had seen the actual act of kidnapping and slavery.
Of course, this was on purpose. She had thoroughly planned out the lines and memorized them the night before.
"Wh-what are you talking about?! That's completely baseless!" (Shop owner)
The shop owner hastily denied what Reina had said, but in his confusion, he had not carefully considered what Reina had just said.
If he had remained calm, he would not have let those words in the dialogue go unnoticed, as they could have been fatal to him.
However, the previous words "kidnapping", "confinement in a dungeon", and "slave" were powerful words with such a strong impact that the word "dungeon", which had already been used once, slipped out of his mind...
Those fatal words, "Hidden door to the dungeon."
"Mile!" (Reina)
"Yes!" (Mile)
Following Reina's instructions, Mile walked straight ahead to an area free of rubble, put his hands on the floor and sprung the door open in one go.
There was no rubble around it, so it was clear to the guards and spectators that there was a hidden door there, and Mile was clearly visible as she entered.
…Of course, that was why there were parts that were unnaturally devoid of rubble.
Then, a few seconds later, Mile appeared from there carrying a little girl in her arms like a princess.
"Hih!"
"Terrible……"
"What the..."
Seeing this, the audience unanimously muttered words of disapproval.
...Yes, the little girl being held by Mile was dressed in rags and had a bandage wrapped around her head covering her left eye, with a dark red stain on the area where the eye would have been.
Her left arm was hanging from a dirty cloth, and her right leg was wrapped in a dirty, red-black cloth.
"…………" (Everyone)
"Shh, I don't know! I dressed him in clean clothes and I didn't hurt her! There must be some mistake, someone has done this!!" (Shop owner)
The merchant was frantically shouting something, but no one paid any attention to it, and no one believed a word he was saying.
… Except that the owner confessed that he knew of the girl's existence, and that she was under his care…
"There's a cell in the basement. Please check!" (Mile)
After Mile said that, the two guards went underground at the command of their commander, then quickly returned.
"There was a dungeon... a room prison. Judging from the toilet, blankets, and other conditions, there was no doubt that it was in use. The lock had been smashed, but..." (Guard)
To be precise, a prison cell is slightly different from a dungeon.
Well, in the sense of an underground prison, it might not be wrong...
Prison cell were not used to hold criminals for the purpose of punishment, but were private facilities for house arrest, so they were more livable than ordinary prisons and the conditions were not as terrible.
Mile and her party deliberately kept saying dungeon instead of prison cell, but the guards seemed to have given an accurate report to their superiors.
Of course, when Mile released Salisha from the cell, she did not cut the wooden bars in half with his sword, but made it look more realistic by hitting the lock repeatedly with the hilt of the sword to make it look like it was destroyed.
And with a terrifying expression on his face, the commander gritted his teeth as he glared at the shop owner with a deathly gaze.
The clothes and bandages of the rabbit beast girl, Salisha, as well as her dirty face and bloodstains, were of course cosplay and makeup by Mile.
Additionally, Mile did not say that Salisha was injured or abused.
All he did was take out the captured "Young girl who was disguised as an injured person to kill time" from the cell. She hadn't lied.
"No! I don't know! I wasn't the one who hurt her!" (Shop owner)
And in that regard, the shop owner hadn't lied either...